PRES 2 study guide
PRES 2 · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
PRES 2 - sometimes written out as Pulp Reactor Engineering Standard 2 - is a professional certification exam aimed at engineers, inspectors, and maintenance specialists who work with pulp mill reactors, digesters, and their associated pressure systems. It is intended for people who already have a grounding in mill operations or mechanical integrity and want formal recognition of their ability to reason across process, equipment, materials, and code requirements rather than in a single narrow specialty. The PRES 2 study guide has 7 sections and about 2,112 words.
01Pulp Mill Processes and Fiber Line
PRES 2 candidates must connect kraft mill process chemistry to the pressure and corrosion duty of fiber-line equipment. Expect questions on white liquor composition, cooking intensity, washing efficiency and bleach-stage chemistry, not just equipment names.
312 words, about 2 min02Reactor and Digester Equipment Design
This domain covers mechanical design of batch and continuous digesters: shell thickness, nozzle reinforcement, thermal fatigue, corrosion allowance, and the process cycles that load the equipment. Design pressure, design temperature and liquor chemistry must be stated together.
311 words, about 2 min03Materials Selection and Corrosion
Materials selection questions test damage-mechanism recognition: uniform corrosion, pitting, crevice attack, chloride stress-corrosion cracking (SCC), caustic SCC, sulfidation and erosion-corrosion. You must match alloy to stream chemistry, temperature and welding condition.
296 words, about 1 min04Pressure Vessel and Piping Codes
This domain checks code literacy: ASME BPVC Section VIII Div 1/Div 2 for vessels, Section I for boilers, ASME B31.1 and B31.3 for piping, and NBIC for repairs. You need design pressure, MAWP, corrosion allowance, joint efficiency and hydrotest logic.
305 words, about 2 min05Inspection, Testing, and Non-Destructive Examination
Inspection and NDE questions test method selection, coverage, calibration and acceptance. You must know when RT, UT, PAUT, TOFD, MT, PT, ET or ACFM is appropriate, and how thickness surveys support API 510/570 intervals.
288 words, about 1 min06Safety Systems, Relief Devices, and Risk Assessment
Safety-system questions cover relief device selection and sizing, overpressure scenarios, HAZOP/LOPA thinking and RBI. You must distinguish set pressure, MAWP, accumulation and backpressure.
295 words, about 1 min07Maintenance, Repair, and Remaining-Life Assessment
Remaining-life and repair questions test API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 logic, NBIC repair rules, weld procedures, PWHT and inspection after repair. You must calculate remaining life from measured thickness and corrosion rate, then judge fitness for continued service.
305 words, about 2 min